this item  is released on March 21, 2006.

Jagged is Gary’s first studio album in over five years. Co-produced with underground electronic artist DJ Ade Fenton (best known for his Advanced Records label), Jagged is an aggressive, forward-looking album which takes the best elements of his previous work and gives them an anthemic, contemporary twist. Jagged is one of the darkest and most electronic albums of his career, re-wiring the apocalyptic synthesizer pop of Numan’s own “Down In The Park” into something equally unique and powerful. Like his best albums it gets to the essence of Numan’s appeal - vocals that are alienated yet strangely soulful; a desire to push technology as far as he can and atmospheric sounds lashed to power chords and dream-like melodies. Numan also mixes rock elements into the album through the massive anthemic choruses, especially on “Fold,” “Haunted,” and “In A Dark Place” - but they’re given a new potency through the siren-like wail of machines rather than guitars. Fans of Numan's more electronic-based songwriting will no doubt love the icy synthesizer hooks of standout tracks like “Pressure,” “Blind” and the experimentalism “Jagged” with the title track’s powerful synthesis of aggression and beauty conjured up out of machine-made noises and effects. At a time when nearly all of his contemporaries have either disappeared or compromised to the point where they've lost their identity, Numan has pulled off an album which is heavy and dark, yet it also contains some of his finest songwriting.

Gary Numan releases his first new studio album in just over five years on 13th March, 2006, on Mortal Records which is licensed to Cooking Vinyl. Co-produced with underground electronic artist Ade Fenton, Jagged is an aggressive, forward-looking album which takes the best elements of his previous work and gives them an anthemic, contemporary twist. Numan will be launching it with a one-off gig at The Forum on 18 March, followed by a full UK tour in April.

Unusually amongst his contemporaries Numan has come into his own in the 21st Century both as an artist and as an influence. In 2000, his Pure album was described as ‘the best music he’s made since his 1979/80 heyday’ by The Sunday Times, while Kerrang! enthused, 'if you like your melancholia dense and dynamic you won’t want Pure to end.'

Three years later he released Hybrid, an album of collaborations and re-worked version of classic tracks which included the Top 20 hit ‘Crazier’, featuring electronic punk Rico. According to Mojo, the album’s ‘sheer quality wins through . . . revealing the dark soul of a true pioneer’, while Time Out were not only ‘blown away’ by the revised versions but also noted the presence of ‘three tantalisingly good new songs’. At the time Numan was also ‘cool again’ thanks to Basement Jaxx’s sampling his songs on ‘Where’s Your Head At’ and the impact of Sugababes’s Number 1 single, ‘Freak Like Me’ which was based around his 1979 chart-topper, ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ Yet since then Numan’s cultural relevance has, if anything, grown stronger than ever before thanks to the likes of Goldfrapp, White Rose Movement, The Rapture, Jacques Lu Cont, The Faint, The Killers and The Bravery.

Meanwhile, Jagged is one of the darkest and most electronic albums of his career, re-wiring the apocalyptic synthesizer pop of Numan’s own ‘Down In The Park’ into something equally unique and powerful. Like his best albums it gets to the essence of Numan’s appeal - a vocal that is alienated yet strangely soulful; a desire to push technology as far as he can and atmospheric sounds lashed to power chords and dream-like melodies. Numan also mixes rock elements into the album through the massive choruses - especially on ‘Fold,’ 'Haunted', 'Blind' and ‘In A Dark Place’ - but they’re given a new potency through the siren-like wail of machines rather than guitars. And for the first time in 20 years, Numan has re-introduced live drums onto the new album, including two tracks ‘Haunted’ and ‘Halo’ played by Jerome Dillon (ex- Nine Inch Nails). Rob Holliday (Sulpher and the Prodigy's new live guitarist) and Monti (Sulpher, former Curve drummer) also guest on Jagged, along with dance producer Andy Gray and Martin McCarrick (ex-Siouxsie & The Banshees) on cello.

'Numan is still as vital as ever . . . the Godfather is back and he's here to stay.' 
Kerrang 

'The massive synths and guitars are stacked up like some Babelesque tower constructed from breezeblocks . . . it is supremely confident and the innovator of the late '70s never sounds like he's having to play catch-up.' 
Mojo 

Jagged is a shudder-fest of consistent quality, with a dash of Eastern promise. 
Q Magazine 

'If 2000's Pure album brought Numan back into focus, then Jagged gives his music fresh shape and vitality.' 
Metal Hammer 

'A must for those who like their music dark and heavy.' 
The Sun 

''Without Gary Numan there would be no industrial scene. Jagged is his latest offering and is a million times more haunting than anything this modern-day scene has to offer. Each track is a dark and brooding slab of gothic beauty with Gary Numan proving to the likes of Manson and co once and for all who the daddy really is.' 
Big Cheese 

'Jagged tells reflective stories of loss, sorrow and regret through dark, creeping rhythms that lurk beneath sheets of guitar, tempered by heady, almost suffocating, synths. The result is a bleak emotional holocaust of an album, evidencing the work of a truly precious artist whose continuing creativity should be cherished.' 
Rocksound 

'Gary Numan now makes more sense than he did as a confused young pop droid. Endorsements from post-Goth noiseniks such as Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson have given Numan a new focus. 'Haunted' sounds like Led Zeppelins 'Kashmir' reinvented for distant dystopian futures. On 'Halo' and 'Pressure', beefed-up synths anchor their creators newfound grasp of rock dynamics.' 
The Times 

'Jagged is aggressive and dark, yet doesn't forget to pack the tunes too.' 
Record Collector 

'Powerful electronic rock . . . a dense, moody collection, it can be thunderous one moment and ethereal the next, forbidding and mysterious, grinding and soaring.' 
Classic Rock 

'This is suitably atmospheric and rousing stuff, close in feel to the urban nightmare of 'Down In The Park' . . . One can only hope that this will mark a complete critical re-evaluation of such as visionary and misunderstood figure.' 
Zero Magazine 

'The beats are fresh, the incidental effects impact nicely and there's more energy here than there should be from someone who has been through the music industry mill for the last quarter of a century plus.' 
Future Music